Tips For Avoiding Home Foreclosure

Wall Street is worried about the slump in the housing market, especially foreclosures. In the second quarter of 2007, according to Equifax/Moody's Economy.com., foreclosures in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., shot up 335 percent. In Flint, Mich., they were up 986 percent, and in Visalia, Calif., home foreclosures were up 1,587 percent.

This time last year, Donna Young was searching for answers. The mother of four was going through a divorce, was nearly $4,000 behind on her mortgage and was close to losing her suburban Atlanta home.

"I started feeling depressed, very stressed, needless to say, because I felt like everything that I had worked so hard for and to gain was falling apart," she says.

Young was smart enough to ask for help from The Impact Group, a non-profit organization that put her through a financial education class, got her on a budget and convinced her lender to excuse her delinquency by allowing her to pay an extra $300 each month to catch up.

With the forecast on foreclosures grim, housing advocates and lenders have launched an ad campaign to persuade homeowners to seek help before its too late.

That's because foreclosure impacts everyone. A recent congressional report found that the between the homeowner, lender, neighboring property value and loss to local government, the average foreclosure costs $80,000. Preventing foreclosure is much less, at $3,300.